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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Finally!!

The weather gods have decided to finally allow summer to grace Oregon. It's been hot (90* today) for us, so I've been a little lax on working the ponies. Zoe pulled a shoe, but hopefully one of the other farriers who comes to the barn can put it back on tomorrow.

Rick mowed the fields yesterday, so today I convinced my parents who are up visiting to help me move the jumps out.

I've saved some old courses from shows, and found a couple online so today I set up an eq course that looked fun.

I took Bud out to the field tonight, and he was pretty distracted during our warm up. Every time we passed the gate, he would pop his outside shoulder, drift toward the gate, and slow way down. I kept my crop in my outside hand, popped him a couple times, and we worked a lot on transitions and turns, trying to keep his attention on me. Once we started jumping, he seemed to focus more. I kept the jumps small, just some x's and 2' verticals. I tried to focus on having a nice rhythm and keeping him straight. I know I was holding him a bit, but the more I jump out there the more I will relax. I have a lesson on Friday so that should really help.